Manliness, part two: The man's man

There is a little known story that put in motion what is now known as the 104 family. There were a few guys, who I knew but didn't really hang out with. We were in the same classes, but it took a trip to Saranac, Michigan to help us to get to know each other. And then the Man's Man Tourney began, and it was golden* from then on.

I was not there when it began, but this is what Gustine says happened: "The man's man tourney was born out of a conversations RyJo and I were having in my room one time, who is the man... The debate grew and grew until we decided it should take on more serious form.." It didn't take long until a group of guys were meeting every few nights to vote on what became known as the Man's Man Tourney. At first it was a tournament of 64 men, a la the NCAA Tourney - March Madness if you will. However, it was quickly decided that one group of 64 was too small to determine the true man's man.

Eight categories were determined, with each category containing 64 men who lived in the 20th century. Each bracket's contestants were determined and seeded, then voted upon round by round. Many of the votes were preceded by debate and speeches were given to sway votes towards "their" man. The voting criteria was as follows: a] who was more "manly" and b] who you would want to hang out with more. The process lasted several weeks, with the final night being a battle royale between the eight finalists:

Sports: Jesse Owens
Sports: Michael Jordan
Comedian: Chris Farley
Actor: Sean Connery
Music [secular**]: Elvis
Music [Christian**]: Keith Greene
World leaders: C.S. Lewis
Fictional characters***: Indiana Jones, PhD.

The championship came down to C.S. versus Indy, with a divided and stubborn crowd on either side. And, by one vote as I recall, the prestigious honor of being the man's man went to Dr. Jones.

Subsequently it has been discussed that there ought to be honorary additions to the finalists, including but not limited to: Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Johnny Cash. These three men, had we really thought about it, would probably have certainly been among the true contenders for the coveted man's man mantle.

As per part one of the Manliness series, when I began to think of all the manly things in my life, the Man's Man Tourney reappeared into my thoughts. I emailed and talked with some of the guys who were there about it and it was deemed that there ought be a new tourney, one for this past decade, the Aughts. And so we have begun compiling lists of men that we think should be recognized and are worthy to do honorable battle-voting against each other for the title of man's man of the decade. So far we have a most interesting field, including: Usain Bolt, Donald Miller, Jeff Tweedy, Michael Scott, Stanley Hauerwas, Banksy, Sufjan Stevens, Cormac McCarthy, Desmond Tutu, Michael Bluth, and many, many more. We actually have a bit of organizing to do before voting begins, but I suppose we'll eventually get there and I will keep my small but faithful readership updated with finalists and so on.

As I was writing this, it did occur to me to think about what these tourney say about our former and current thoughts on manhood. And, because we take this somewhat lightly, I'm not sure it says much. We have the understanding that, yes, Indiana Jones is manly because he is a world traveler, that he gets the girl, that he punches/shoots the bad guy, that he's a professor, etc. But we also realize that those are not the qualities that truly make a man manly, they are the images that our world accepts as manly and we enjoy watching them on the big screen. But we know that being a man is being the Indiana Jones of everyday life - pursuing God, being responsible, being leaders in our varying communities, and so forth. That's being a man.

One other note, as Andrew put it bluntly and correctly: the first tourney was clearly done by a bunch of white, suburban, evangelicals, i.e. there wasn't much diversity. As we have grown out of our shells and explored the world a bit, we have realized that our vision of manhood is growing beyond that of which we had in our homes growing up, and now being developed by our own studies and communities. And that's a good thing. you have my love.

Coming up - Manliness, part three: Beardenzia; The end of academia.


* And by "golden" I mean, really fun, except for the times when we [me] were jerks to each other. It happens, we forgave each other and it is now really golden*.
** We still believed in a separation "secular" and "Christian" music.
*** This bracket of fictional characters included one "region" [16 men] from The Simpsons, as I recall, Ralph Wiggam was the cinderella of that region, making it deep into the bracket.

The Champ...